1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to nail holders, and in particular, nail holders that hold a multiplicity of nails at a distance beyond the user's arm's length.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The construction industry has long voiced a need to mechanically hold nails and brads to avoid injury to the user's fingers. Similarly, the construction industry has long voiced a need to safely and efficiently drive nails of short length, to drive nails in cramped quarters, and to drive nails in hard to reach places. These needs are well documented in the literature of the industry and date back more than a century. Accordingly, a substantial number of practitioners have addressed this problem with varying degrees of success. By way of example, the prior art contains dozens of examples of single, individual nail holders of different sizes and configurations. While these devices offer unique solutions to the problem of holding nails away from the user's fingers, they all have some inherent limitations as discussed below. Specifically, the following U.S. patents disclose nail holders of various types and configurations: U.S. Pat. No. 874,613 issued to McColm (1907); U.S. Pat. No. 1,688,445 issued to Williams (1928); U.S. Pat. No. 2,716,750 issued to Biblis (1955); U.S. Pat. No. 3,060,442 issued to Tomek (1962); U.S. Pat. No. 3,522,827 issued to Muller (1970); U.S. Pat. No. RE 28,159 issued to Litz (1971); U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,004,624 and 4,008,741 issued to Holstein (1977); U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,764 issued to Hayes (1978); U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,258 issued to Elmore et al. (1980); U.S. Pat. No. 4,403,725 issued to Lawrence (1983); U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,489 issued to Ross (1983); U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,747 issued to Falls et. al (1987); U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,025 issued to Peck (1988); U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,855 issued to Martinez (1989); U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,623 issued to Jackson (1990); U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,718 issued to Cook (1990); U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,996 issued to Wei (1994); U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,020 issued to Fifield et al. (1994); U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,488 issued to Baitner (1994); U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,262 issued to Pascarelli (1996); U.S. Design Pat. No. 371,286 issued to Garcia (1996); U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,641 issued to Stephenson (1997); U.S. Pat. No. 5,933,894 issued to Bates (1999); U.S. Pat. No. 5,957,007 issued to Righini (1999); U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,498 issued to Ming et al. (2000); U.S. Pat. No. 6,189,415 issued to McQuillin (2001); and U.S. Pat. No. 7,100,475 issued to Rufolo, Sr. (2006).
While the foregoing prior art represents an impressive array of devices designed to hold a nail away from the user's fingers, it discloses devices that are severely limited in that they typically hold only a single nail. Further, the foregoing prior art discloses devices that must be physically disengaged from the fastener once the user has hammered or set it into place. Further still, the foregoing devices do not contemplate extending the user's reach by any appreciable distance. Further still, most of the foregoing devices are cumbersome, awkward, or uncomfortable to hold for any length of time. Finally, most of the foregoing devices rigidly hold the fastener in a set location, which prevents the user from placing the fastener in difficult, hard-to-reach locations, especially those at an angle from the device as opposed to directly below or in front of it.
The following U.S. patents disclose nail strips of various types and configurations that attempted to address the problem of holding a single nail: U.S. Pat. No. 967,208 issued to Leslie (1910); U.S. Pat. No. 2,684,776 issued to Rosenstein (1954); U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,723 issued to Lemanchec (1973); U.S. Pat. No. 4,149,036 issued to Regan et al. (1979); U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,268 issued to Dill et al. (2002); and U.S. Pat. No. 6,823,990 issued to Gaudron (2004).
While the foregoing list contains prior art disclosing the use of multiple fasteners, many of the devices holding those fasteners are flexible strips which would necessarily be nailed to the structure into which the nails were driven. Other devices were simply magazines of nails that would be inserted into some type of pneumatic hammering device. As a group, these devices did not address the problem of holding the fastener away from the user's hand. Further, these devices, as a group, did not address the remaining shortcomings found in the nail holders disclosed by the prior art. Specifically, the foregoing prior art disclosed nail strips that contemplated holding more than a single fastener but these devices did not address the need to extend the reach of the user. Further, these devices, like the nail holders disclosed by the prior art, were typically cumbersome, awkward, or uncomfortable to hold for any length of time. Further still, the foregoing devices rigidly hold the fastener in a set location, which prevents the user from placing the fastener in difficult, hard-to-reach locations. Finally, the foregoing devices did not fully address the problem of physically disengaging the device from the fastener once it had been hammered or set in place. The nail holding device still had to be “wiggled” or otherwise maneuvered to disengage it from the nail after the nail had been hammered into place.
The following U.S. patents disclose miscellaneous devices of various types and configurations that do not contemplate the holding of nails but offer unique and creative solutions that could be applied to nail holders and the like:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,577,954 issued to DiPietro (1951) discloses a Nail Set that permits the user to drive a nail below the surface of the material into which it is being hammered. While the device does not hold nails, it does employ the use of a handle to avoid obscuring the work while also lessening the likelihood of injury to the user's fingers.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,878,476 issued to Auchard (1959) discloses a hammer guard for use in placing nails within woodwork without causing hammer marks to appear on the woodwork's surface. The device disclosed by Auchard has a plurality of holes in one end through which the user would drive nails. The device disclosed by Auchard also has a tubular hole in the near end so that the user can hold the hammer guard with his little finger. However, this device does not extend the user's reach, it does not contemplate holding more than one nail at a time, and it does not contemplate access to hard-to-reach places.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,493,353 issued to Thomas (1985) discloses a tool for countersinking nails into a workpiece. While this device contemplates holding one or more nails at a time, it does not extend the reach of the user. Further, the device disclosed by Thomas does not have a multi-planar range of motion. Finally, the device disclosed by Thomas, like so many of the devices disclosed by the prior art, must be physically disengaged from the nail once the nail has been driven or set in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,056 issued to Miller (1990) discloses a hand-held staple holder that loosely holds a large number of staples in a ready-to-nail position. While this device contemplates holding a large number of fasteners, the staples are loosely held and could fall out if the device were inverted. Further, while this device contemplates the use of a handle, the purpose of the handle appears to be limited to a platform to which the staple holder is attached rather than appreciably extending the user's reach. Finally, the device disclosed by Miller is not designed to permit employment in otherwise inaccessible or hard-to-reach spaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,070 issued to Rieck (1994) discloses a nailing shield and nail set for use in driving nails. While the device disclosed by Rieck contemplates holding more than one nail for starting purposes, it is limited to three nails by the dimensions of the device. Further, the device disclosed by Rieck must be manually disengaged from the nail after the user has hammered it into place. Further still, the device disclosed by Rieck does not contemplate extending the reach of the user and it does not contemplate movement in different planes to permit use in otherwise inaccessible spaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,681 issued to Coulter (2003) discloses a nail set holder mounted atop a hollow handle. Coulter does not address the problem of extending the reach of the user. Instead, the handle appears to function as a base for the nail-set holder and a means of keeping the nail-set holder away from the user's hands and fingers. Further, the device disclosed by Coulter does not contemplate holding multiple fasteners nor does it teach movement in one or more planes to permit employment of the device in otherwise inaccessible places.
Taken collectively, all of the foregoing prior art references show that the need to comfortably and safely hold nails to start them or hammer them in hard-to-reach places has been a long-standing and continuing problem for the construction industry. The foregoing prior art presents many unique and innovative solutions to this problem of comfortably and safely holding a single fastener or nail to either start it or hammer it into place. Cumulatively, these devices have made significant headway in addressing these problems. Successive inventors have built upon the lessons learned by their predecessors so as to disclose increasingly sophisticated devices to hold a single nail or other such fastener. That said, there remain several issues and problems that have not been adequately addressed by the prior art, both individually and collectively. In general terms, none of the devices disclosed by the prior art permit the user to comfortably extend his or her reach in multiple directions while simultaneously holding or hammering a multiplicity of fasteners. More specifically:
(1) Most, if not all, of the devices found in the prior art are complex in design and construction and many are difficult and complicated to operate. This makes them expensive to manufacture which, in turn, makes them expensive for the consumer to purchase. Further, these complex designs typically give rise to increasingly larger numbers of breakable parts. The parts must be replaced or the user must purchase an entirely new device either of which represents a significant increase in their cost to the consumer.
(2) Most, if not all, of the devices found in the prior art contain numerous custom-engineered components and parts. This makes these devices expensive because these specially designed components must be engineered and manufactured separately which adds significantly to the cost of such devices. These increased manufacturing costs are necessarily passed on to the consumer. Further, these specially designed or fabricated components typically give rise to increasingly larger numbers of breakable parts which, again, increases the cost of the device to the consumer who must repair or replace the broken parts or purchase a new device altogether.
(3) Most, if not all, of the devices found in the prior art are limited to holding a single fastener. The process of constantly and repetitively inserting individual fasteners is tedious, time-consuming, and inefficient.
(4) Most, if not all, of the devices found in the prior art must be physically disengaged from the fastener once the fastener has been hammered or set in place. The user must typically “wiggle” the device away from the fastener so as to finish hammering it into place. This process is similarly tedious, time-consuming, and inefficient.
(5) Most, if not all, of the devices found in the prior art do not appreciably extend the reach of the user.
(6) Most of the devices disclosed in the prior art rigidly hold a fastener in place making it difficult to hammer or set fasteners in hard-to-reach or otherwise inaccessible locations. While one or two devices disclosed by the prior art contemplate rotational movement of the held fastener, none contemplate movement in multiple planes and none contemplate the rotation of multiple fasteners.
(7) Most of the multiple fastener holders disclosed by the prior art hold the fasteners loosely. As such, the fasteners will fall out if the user tries to use the device in hammering or setting fasteners in other than a horizontal surface.
(8) Most of the multiple fastener holders disclosed by the prior art hold the fasteners at predetermined intervals which limits the placement of such fasteners to those specific intervals.
(9) Most of the multiple fastener holders disclosed by the prior art require the user to attach the holder onto the surface into which the fastener is being hammered or set.
(10) Many of the multiple fastener holders disclosed by the prior art are limited to use with a complex, electric or pneumatic hammering device.
(11) Most, if not all, of the devices disclosed by the prior art and having a handle of some type do not contemplate using the handle to extend the reach of the user. Instead, the handle is merely a structure to which the nail holder is attached.
(12) Most, if not all, of the devices disclosed by the prior art are cumbersome, awkward, and/or uncomfortable to hold for any length of time.
(13) Many of the devices disclosed by the prior art rely on magnetic force to hold the fastener while it is being positioned and set for hammering. Fasteners held in this manner tend to wobble or align themselves obliquely with respect to the holder maker it more difficult to start hammering the fastener properly. Further, these devices are limited to holding a single fastener at a time.
Objects and Advantages. Given the foregoing problems identified in the prior art, the present invention provides the user with the capability of holding a multiplicity of nails in place for hammering beyond the reach of the user's arms-length. Besides avoiding potential injuries to the user's fingers this device also permits the user to continue hammering a number of fasteners beyond arm's length without having to stop hammering to reload the nail holder as is the case with the nail holders disclosed by the prior art. By holding more than one nail at a time, the present invention saves the user time and money by eliminating the reloading step taught by the prior art. Specifically, the object of the present invention is:
(1) to provide an adjustable multiple nail holder-extension that is simple to construct, economical in price and easy to use.
(2) to provide an adjustable multiple nail holder-extension that has a minimum number of moving parts.
(3) to provide an adjustable multiple nail holder-extension that is capable of holding a single nail or more than one nail at a time.
(4) to provide an adjustable multiple nail holder-extension that holds a multiplicity of nails at one time.
(5) to provide an adjustable multiple nail holder-extension that extends the reach of the user to permit hammering of nails and other such fasteners beyond arm's length.
(6) to provide an adjustable multiple nail holder-extension that facilitates hammering nails in an overhead location.
(7) to provide an adjustable multiple nail holder-extension that permits rotational movement of the held nails in a horizontal plane and/or a vertical plane.
(8) to provide an adjustable multiple nail holder-extension that facilitates hammering nails in hard-to-reach or otherwise inaccessible places.
(9) to provide an adjustable multiple nail holder-extension with an ergonomic handle that is comfortable and efficient to hold, especially for extended periods of time.
(10) to provide an adjustable multiple nail holder-extension that does not have to be physically disengaged from the fastener once the fastener has been set or hammered into place.
(11) to provide an adjustable multiple nail holder-extension that increases the user's efficiency by eliminating the need to repetitively place single nails or other such fasteners into the device.
Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part of the description which follows and will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following specification, or will be learned through the practice of the present invention.